Twenty organisations from across Scotland have been awarded “Committed to Excellence” status at the Quality Scotland Annual Scottish Awards for Business Excellence in Edinburgh. The twenty Third Sector Interfaces support charities and social enterprises at a local level and encourage volunteering. The awards are in recognition of their commitment to ongoing review and strategic improvement of their organisations.
Each of the organisations was helped along the way by Supporting Voluntary Action (SVA). SVA is a BIG Lottery funded project to strengthen local support for the third sector in Scotland.
SVA’s Quality Matters project has now supported a total of twenty six organisations to attain the internationally-recognised EFQM Committed to Excellence status over the last two years.
Tim Allan, a member of the Scotland Committee of the BIG Lottery Fund, who presented the organisations with their certificates, said:
“I have been lucky that I have been closely involved in the Supporting Voluntary Action programme and Quality Matters over the last few years. Quality Matters has been a key strand of SVA, and one of the most successful projects to date. We feel that it has the potential for a wide-spread impact across the sector, and this was clearly reflected by some very enthusiastic and happy teams that were winners at the Quality Scotland awards. The project has definitely made an impact on those involved and helped to build capacity in local interfaces and beyond to better support voluntary action across Scotland”.
Paul White, Director of Networks at SCVO and Chair of the SVA Management Group commented:
“It is fantastic to see so many Interfaces committing to the process of continuous improvement. Many of them are already benefitting and believe that, as a result of participating in the project, they are now much better placed to meet the ever-increasing demand for their services.”
Doug Duthie, chair of Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations said:
“The process not only improved our organisation, it drew us all together in common purpose and it ensures we give a better, more confident service to our clients. It is now built into the ethos of our work I would thoroughly recommend it to all organisations. It is not a box ticking exercise, or a plaque on the wall, it is a living, workable system of development”